Economist Joseph Stiglitz backs second term at BOJ helm for Haruhiko Kuroda

NEW YORK - Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said Friday that reappointing Haruhiko Kuroda as Bank of Japan governor would be a “very good decision.”

“I think that would be a very good decision. I think he is certainly among the very top of the central bankers of the world — among the most thoughtful, among the best economists,” Stiglitz told reporters.

The remarks came hours after Kyodo News confirmed that the government will seek to retain the 73-year-old Kuroda as chief of the central bank for another five-year term beyond April, when his current term expires.

“I think Japan has been very lucky to have somebody of his intellect, of his commitment, in that position,” the Columbia University professor said.

“I think the most successful of the three arrows of Abenomics has clearly been that of Kuroda-san of the central bank,” Stiglitz said, referring to the BOJ’s radical monetary easing policy, part of Japan’s growth plan of fiscal stimulus and structural reform vows.